


New Pathways

by st_aurafina



Category: Star Trek: Discovery
Genre: Episode: s02e08 If Memory Serves, First Dates, Fix-It of Sorts, Healing, M/M, Triple Drabble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-27
Updated: 2019-03-27
Packaged: 2019-12-18 16:26:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18253553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/st_aurafina/pseuds/st_aurafina
Summary: Paul is hurting and Hugh knows he should feel something.





	New Pathways

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sys](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sys/gifts).



> Thank you to my beta

Everything Hugh says hurts Paul. It doesn't hurt Hugh, and that absence of pain is terrifying. He should feel more than mild concern for someone who is clearly suffering. There are pathways in his mind that should be lighting up right now. He should be oozing oxytocin; he should be yearning for skin contact to comfort them both.

The only thing he is certain of is his vow as a healer: first, do no harm. He is harming Paul, and that meant something to the person he was before. 

"I'll go," he says. It's the only thing he can do. 

\---

Distance helps: in his new quarters, Hugh can think clearly. No more circular thinking, no more panic for what has been lost and for what he can't mourn.

In the shower, he absently thinks of Paul from a purely aesthetic point of view, and feels himself harden. He strokes himself, idly and then with focus, thinking of Paul's skin, the arch of his neck, his ass. He comes, leaning against the cubicle wall, gasping with pleasure and also relief. 

It makes sense: this body is new, but it's still the body that was attracted to Paul in the first place. 

\---

Paul watches him warily when he comes into the lab. Hugh doesn't blame him. 

"Hey," Hugh says, his heart fluttering with first date anxiety. It's as euphoric as jacking off in the shower. "I don't know you, but you seem… like someone I'd like to take to dinner?" 

Paul is silent for a terrifying moment, then thankfully catches up. He gives Hugh an assessing gaze that lights up those silent pathways in Hugh's brain. "Sure," he says. 

Hugh stands there, awkward and uncertain. Then Paul sticks out a hand to shake his. 

"I'm Paul," he says. "Nice to meet you."


End file.
